Syria rattles traders

By KEN SWEET
the associated press

Published: September 6, 2013;Last modified: September 6, 2013 10:46PM

NEW YORK — The stock market finished flat Friday after a volatile day of trading.

Stocks opened slightly higher but soon fell after Russian media reported that naval ships were en route to Syria, raising worries of a wider conflict and sending the Dow Jones industrial average down as much 148 points in the first half-hour of trading.

The Dow rose as high as 15,009 and dropped as low as 14,789 — a big 220 point range — before ending down 14.98 points, or 0.1 percent, at 14,922.50.

The price of crude oil rose as traders anticipated that any escalation of tensions in the Middle East might disrupt the flow of oil from the region. Oil rose $2.07 to $110.43 a barrel.

“Clearly, (Russia) made the market nervous,” said Dean Junkans, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank, which has $170 billion in assets under management

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose less than a point, or 0.09 percent, to close at 1,655.17. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.23 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,660.01.

Traders were rattled by conflicting forces.

A mediocre August jobs report suggested that U.S. economic growth was slowing, providing a possible reason for the Fed to keep up its stimulus program. The stimulus program has been a major driver of higher stock prices.

The geopolitical risks of Syria added to the uncertainty .

One clear trend emerged: investors moved money into safer assets.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.94 percent from 3 percent the day before. Relatively safe, dividend-paying stocks such as utilities were among the best performers in the S&P 500 and gold rose more than 1 percent.

For the week, the S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq was up nearly 2 percent. It was the best five-day gain for the S&P 500 in two months and followed a broad sell-off in August.

Friday’s jobs survey is the last major piece of economic data the Fed will have to consider before its September 17-18 policy meeting, when it will decide the fate of its large bond-buying program.